News Archives: February 2009

Monday, February 23, 2009

Because I Keep Being Asked...

"An Evil Guest" by Gene Wolfe is a near-future, Cthulhoid pulp-noir. Sort of a cross between a Mickey Spillane and an HP Lovecraft, but written by one of the greatest living authors. Thoroughly recommended, though you may wish to wait for it to come out in paperback.

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Me: Do you have any G-clamps?
Homebase Sales Assistant: What's that?

***

The perils of living with Alfie, part 38478: On Friday, Alfie decided that waiting to be lifted out of the car, or even carefully jumping out wasn't as much fun as taking a flying leap. So he did, legs out-stretched in a passable impersonation of Superman. As he was about to hit the ground, he pulled his front legs in to cushion the landing, but misjudged the height. Instead, he pushed himself into a sumersault, and landed on his face. He's now sporting a large cut on the top of his nose, which isn't bothering him except when we decided to clean and disinfect it - that took two of us to hold him down.

Posted by graham @ 05:43 pm

Friday, February 13, 2009

The Great Thaw

There's something in the air. Our fridge-freezer died yesterday, so we spent all evening trying to find a replacement that would hold the same amount of food and fit in the same gap. The biggest restriction turned out to be the shelf unit over the top of the fridge. Still, we've found one that should fit, and it should be delivered tomorrow. Earlier tonight I phoned Mum, and the first thing she told me was "I've ordered a new fridge, mine's broke..."

Posted by graham @ 09:59 pm

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Take One Citrus and Singe

Everyone knows that there is no rhyme,
For the word "Orange".
Now, I don't want to whinge,
But that argument seems to hinge,
On never having met a redhead,
Whose mates call him "Ginge",
And a desire not to be vulgar.

***

The question of the day is "how close is too close?" Just recently I've had several incidents where a member of staff (in a shop, bank, or whatever) has stood what seemed at the time to be too close. I could feel myself backing away, getting anxious, panicing. I'm not normally someone who's too bothered about personal space - with friends I tend to be at the "too huggy" end of the spectrum - but that sort of close contact seemed threatening coming from someone I don't know having a purely business conversation. So, how close is too close? And if I'm right and these people were too close, how do you say "back off" without being seen as the aggressive nutcase?

Posted by graham @ 09:57 pm

Friday, February 6, 2009

Kitty Piccies

I've uploaded more Cisco photos and added a gallery for Cary as well. Bonus appearances by the dogs, including a puppy Tara.

Posted by graham @ 08:13 pm

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Cats, Mainly

I've popped up a little gallery of photos of Cisco. Mainly this is for Jen, but thought I'd mention it in case anyone else wanted to see.

Cisco's pretty upset about the weather, too cold and wet for his old bones. He's been making his annoyance felt as well - yowling at me, and eating and drinking from the dogs' bowls at every opportunity. Admittedly, there's something very cute about watching a giant greyhound waiting impatiently to be allowed to have a drink while Cisco sups water by repeatedly dipping a paw in and carefully licking it dry again. The weather is finding more favour with the dogs - Zak loves snow, and has been rolling and skidding around in it with great delight. The other two (despite their waterproof coats) didn't like Monday, when it was actually falling from the sky. Snow on the ground, where it's supposed to be, is much more fun, and they were quite happy to play with snowballs on today's walk. Tara will get quite acrobatic in order to snatch a snowball from mid-air.

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In other cat-related news, I notice that Carrie Fisher now has a blog. Her great claim to fame is, of course, that I nearly named a cat after her. Kitten's are really difficult to sex, and you can't just use "thingumy" until they're old enough to be obvious, so a name that's good for either gender (bar a slight change of spelling) is very useful. Cary turned out to be male, with a lovely set of bright ginger balls till I had them cut off, so Cary Grant gets the honours of inspiring his name. Anyway, Carrie's blog is pretty much the combination of entertaining and terrifying you'd expect if you've paid any attention to her career apres-Jedi, and is worth a read.

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Tentacles, the world's greatest rpg con is nearly sold out for this year. And given this is the last one, this may be the last ever chance to hang out and play with very cool people in a castle over-looking the Rhine. Claire and I are signed up - hopefully you are (about to) as well. The really good news for this year's con is that Ryan Air are now flying from Edinburgh, at sensible times of the day.

Posted by graham @ 09:12 pm

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Stu Memorial

Quick update on Stu's memorial gathering. Edinburgh is very nearly booked solid, but the ever-reliable Auld Hoose (http://www.theauldhoose.co.uk/) has reserved the usual section for us. We'll be there from 1pm, and I hope you will too.

I've already got some photos, along with stories to read out from people who can't make it themselves. If you have anything you can send along, please get it to me asap! I'll organise with Kieran getting everything to Stu's family.

And thanks to everyone who's been helping me organise this.

Posted by graham @ 03:08 pm

Monday, February 2, 2009

Stu Memorial

From 1pm this Saturday afternoon (7th Feb) there'll be a memorial gathering in Edinburgh to celebrate the life of Stu Cutler. I haven't quite confirmed the venue yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I do!

The idea is for all of Stu's friends to get together to swap stories and raise a glass to him. If you knew Stu, please come along if you possibly can. Also, if you have any photos please bring them along, or, if they're digital, please email them to me for printing.

Hope to see you there.

Posted by graham @ 08:13 pm

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